No more smokey baba gounoush at Sahadi's!

I finally managed to get to Sahadi before their 7pm closing time....and guess what? In spite of what I keep posting, they haven't stocked the smokey prepackaged baba gounoush from Laila Restaurant in over four years.

The deal is this: Laila's chef/owner, Elias, closed the place four years ago, and stopped supplying the baba. The manager of Sahadi's is sad about this...says lots of customers ask about it, but so far he's been unsuccessful in persuading Elias to keep making the stuff. It doesn't sound like his hope is completely dead, though.

So I currently know nowhere to find really soulful, really smokey baba gounoush.

I noticed some interesting looking baba at Damascus Bakery next door,Maybe that is smokey, I know exactly what you are talking about. Why don't you contact Laila, and get the recipe, or ask Sahadi to get the recipe and make it there?

I just tried the Damascus baba and it is smokey and less homogenized than Sahadi's. I think it's reallygood. Can't say how it compares to Laila's. They also occasionally have an excellent muhammara (a dip made from red peppers and nuts), but not always. The owner told my husband that the person who makes it is always traveling or somerthing like that, and so they don't get it all the time.

Are you talking about Laila's in Park Slope, or some other Laila restaurant? The one in the Slope is most certainly still open, at least it was as of yesterday when I walked by the place. In my view it has gone dramatically downhill in the last few years, but it appears to be still limping along somehow (do they own the building?).

Never tasted Laila's so maybe I don't know what smoky baba ganoush tastes like but I really like the stuff they make at Sahadi and sell at the take-out counter -- especially with Damascus' sesame pita.